Probably Frances Jane (Fanny) Crosby (1820-1915): she wrote over 8,000 hymns. It’s said editors didn’t want to publish so many hymns by the same lyricist in one book, so they asked her to use pseudonyms (she used over 200). For a list of Fanny’s hymns that we have, click here.

The current contender is Fanny Crosby: The day before her death at age 95, she wrote her last hymn, to console a neighbor who had lost a child. Another work from Fanny’s later years is The Blood-Washed Throng, which she wrote at age 86.

John Wesley’s singing rules for Methodists (he had a method for everything!):

Learn the tune.

Sing them as they are printed.

Sing all. If it is a cross to you, take it up and you will find a blessing.

Sing lustily and with a good courage.

Sing modestly. Do not bawl.

Sing in time. Do not run before or stay behind.

Above all, sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing Him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this, attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually.